Mercedes CLK-GTR RHD – for sale at auction

A unique RHD Mercedes CLK-GTR Coupe and a RHD CLK-GTR Coupe are to be offered at auction in London by R.M. Auctions.

Back in February we reported that there were a pair of very rare RHD Mercedes CLK-GTRs up for sale – one Coupe and one Roadster. In fact they are the only RHD CLK-GTRs ever made. For the Sultan of Brunei – who else?

When we wrote that report in February we knew how much the owners wanted, but we couldn’t tell you. Just hint broadly about the ball park. We also asked “Is there anybody left in a RHD market who can actually afford to stump up the asking price?”. And as it turns out there isn’t, which is why the RHD CLK-GTRs are now going to be up for auction at R.M Auctions Cars of London sale next month. At an estimate of around half what the owners wanted at the start of the year. Ouch.

So what’s so special about the CLK-GTR? Well, it bears a passing resemblance to its namesake – the production Mercedes CLK – but that’s about it. Just parts of the dash and the grill remain from the original car. The rest is a bona fide, road -going FIA GT1 racer from the 90s. Just 25 CLK-GTR Coupes and 6 CLK-GTR Roadsters were built for the road, each with a 6.0 litre LS 600 V12 boasting over 600bhp and channelled through a six-speed sequential ‘box.

The Roadster versions of the CLK-GTR were actually made by HWA, who are the specialist division of AMG (who are the specialist division of Mercedes…), the same firm that made replica 300SL Gullwings costing more than twice those built by Gullwing GmbH. So HWA cars don’t come cheap. Nor to CLK-GTRs.